Now Lewis the flyer requires finishing power after McLaren's front-row lockout

If Lewis Hamilton carries on at this
rate, then Sebastian Vettel might just find his record of 15 pole
positions in a season stands for only a solitary campaign.

Just as in Australia last week,
Hamilton set his fastest time of 1min 26.219sec with his first lap in
the final phase of qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, aborting his second run to conserve
his tyres.

Top three: Hamilton secured his second consecutive pole from Button and Schumacher

Once again, his time was there to be
shot at and, once again, everybody missed, leaving him with the 21st
pole of his career and first in Malaysia.

However, while few in the paddock
would disagree that Hamilton, given the right machinery, is the fastest
driver over a single lap, full-race distances have too often proved to
be a different matter.

Staying out of trouble and handling
the problems caused by Pirelli's fast degrading tyres has been the stock
in trade of Jenson Button, whom Hamilton freely admits will give him a
stern challenge on race day.

'It's not the first time I've been
in this position,' said Hamilton of the task of battling a formidable
opponent from the same garage.

'When I was racing with Fernando Alonso, that was massively challenging.

Lew beauty: Hamilton celebrates the 21st pole position of his career

'Every time you have a quick
team-mate who is consistent both in qualifying and in the race, and who
is as hungry as ever, you've just got to be able to match him or do
better. Jenson's done a fantastic job so far. I've just got to try to
continue to push him as he continues to push me.'

Even if Button's race craft
compensates for the edge Hamilton holds over him in qualifying, 51 races
without a pole position remains irksome for such a fierce competitor.

'I'm happy to be second but obviously I'd be happier to be first,' said Button.

At the double: The McLaren driver bounced back after his disappointment in Melbourne

'But I couldn't beat Lewis's lap. It
was a great lap. But I feel pretty happy with being on the front row.
It's good for us to be up there.

'There are four teams that are very,
very strong. So it's great that we've both been able to get up on to the
front row and hopefully that pattern is going to continue throughout
the year.'

The early promise shown by McLaren
has already got premature tongues wagging about a repeat of the dominant
1988 and 1989 seasons, when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost engaged in
battle royal for the Woking-based team.

Tough day at the office: Vettel could only manage the sixth fastest time but will start one place better after Raikkonen's demotion

'It has been an encouraging start but we are not getting ahead of ourselves,' said McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

Even so, there is a discernible
lightness of mood and quiet confidence surrounding McLaren at present,
understandable given the last time they lifted the constructor's
championship was way back in 1998.

Such harmony can, of course, be undone by having both your drivers taking each other off as on-track competition boils over.

Button, however, insisted his continued proximity to Hamilton will not increase the possibility of costly comings together.

'We've been close together a lot over
the past couple of years,' said Button. 'As long as we're both
qualifying well this isn't going to happen for just these two races.

Centre of attention: Schumacher recorded his highest grid position since his comeback

'We're going to be fighting each
other a lot. But that's what we've been doing for most of our lives so
we're pretty good at it.' Thankfully, Whitmarsh has no intention of over-using team orders, despite their renewed legality.

'It is quite difficult to call off the fight between the two drivers,' conceded Whitmarsh.

'We haven't traditionally and I think they both strongly want to win.'